


the Angel and the Hunter

by Thliky



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Character Development, Heaven, M/M, Post Swan Song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 14:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thliky/pseuds/Thliky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the depths of heaven, there are angels who hate Castiel with a fury like no other, there are angels who daren't even speak of his name. </p>
<p>But then there are angels who look to tales of the angel for inspiration and courage, there are angels who speak of his story in hushed, gentle tones and live in the hope of passing on his lessons to the younger ones. </p>
<p>In the depths of heaven, Castiel is a hero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the Angel and the Hunter

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is set sometime after Swan Song and before heaven's civil war. Just a rough drabble consisting mostly of Castiel!feels and heart breaking character development.

“Mommy, can you tell me a story?” a small, cheery voice echoed through the room as a little girl took a running jump onto the sofa landing with a thud. A light fluttering sound followed her as she shifted on the sofa, a gentle brushing of feathered wings. 

A soft chuckle escaped the woman’s lips. “Of course, Sweetie,” she brushed a hand through the girl’s soft, light hair, “what story do you want me tell?” 

The girl took a moment, her bright, blue eyes becoming distant as she searched through her brain for a sufficient answer, “Tell me the one about the angel and the hunter.” 

A warm smile embraced the woman’s face as she breathed in the lingering, cinnamon scent that drifted through the air. The gentle flicker of the wood fire sitting in the corner, warmed the room, highlighting her face with a soft, gentle glow. 

“I thought you’d never ask.” The woman lightly pinched the little girl’s rosy cheeks as she let out a bright giggle. The woman draped a blanket around the girl as she nestled deeper into the sofa, wrapping herself in the comfortable warmth. 

“Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was an angel. He was no different from any of the other angels in heaven, living a blindly content and satisfactory life, watching over the world and the apes. He followed his orders, thriving off blind loyalty, and watched as the world slowly evolved around them. He was never particularly impressed with the human race, mostly because they ended up creating some sort of conflict in way or another and, though he was aware of the few kind souls that walked the earth selflessly, he couldn’t stop noticing how death and destruction always seemed to outweigh the kindness. He remembered every scene of bloody mess that humans had created; from the gladiators to the holocaust, he remembered it all. 

“But that all changed when he met the righteous hunter. Though filled with aggression and passion like most of the human race, he was different – he possessed qualities that the angel had never seen before or had never taken the time to see before. The angel fought his way through hell, alongside his brother and sisters, to get to the hunter, to save his soul from the evil that was inevitable going to claim him; he grabbed him from the pits and dragged him to the surface of the earth where he belonged. But the moment the angel touched the hunter, he was tainted – some say for better, some say for worse, but nevertheless the angel had changed. The angel had saved people before, but never before had he saved someone who thought so little about himself, especially seen as he, more than anyone, deserved gratitude. Even the most grief ridden of souls were thankful for rescue, but the hunter was convinced he didn’t deserve a saviour, despite the lives he’d saved and the lives he would go onto save. The angel was thoroughly intrigued by the hunter and his hurricane of emotions, so utterly vivid and all consuming.

“The angel watched over the hunter for the next few months of his life, it was his job to make sure everything went according to plan. It was his job to make sure the hunter did as was predicted and he and his brother would go onto play their roles in the apocalypse, they were to become the vessels of Michael and Lucifer and obediently perform their duty with the rest of heaven. But as the months past and it was slowly revealed to the two hunters what their fate was to be, they became more and more reluctant until they all out refused to be a part of the destruction that would unfold upon the earth. The angel was mostly confused at first, why would they bother fighting against a cause that was already set in stone? And why couldn’t they just play the hand they’d been given and follow the rules like everybody else? And that’s where everything changed for the angel, the moment he began to question the hunter’s motives was the moment he began to question his own and, by extension, heaven’s. He paid special attention towards the hunter and watched him grow and fight and love and the angel slowly came around to thinking from his point of view. Though accidentally, he managed to appreciate the thought behind each of the hunter’s actions, everything he did was out of love and compassion and the angel began to aim to do the same.

“In the process, his eyes were opened to a whole new world of thought and imagination and emotion. He no longer looked down and saw a world full of destructive, ignorant apes, he saw humans for what they really are. He saw the joy and happiness in a child’s laugh, he saw the fierce passion between two young lovers, he saw the creativity and resourcefulness in an artist’s fingertips. They were no longer mindless beasts to him, they were so much more than that now, a great big, simmering pot of potential and capability and he felt for the first time he truly understood why his Father had ordered them to protect these creatures. He was still painfully aware of the danger and death that surrounded them, but he was now able to see where this had come from, they were so overflowing with emotion and it was overpoweringly obvious that all the anger and the violence came from the same place that the love and nurturance originated. He felt like he was seeing the world clearly for the first time, no longer distracted and disoriented by orders and schemes, he could see the flaws in them and he could see the beauty too. 

“But with this new perspective came the startling realization of how his own society was cracked and crumbling, he could see the holes in heaven and how things didn’t add up right, how could it be possible that the apocalypse was designed to bring the world salvation when it included the slaughtering of millions? How could their Father, who asked for nothing more than for the angels to love the humans, expect them to do this? And, though he tried to stop himself more and more each day, the angel felt doubt for the first time that he could remember, the crippling epiphany of how wrong everything he was working towards was. 

“The angel – awash with foreign, vivid emotion – confided in the hunter and trusted him with the words he daren’t speak to any of his brothers and sisters, he turned to the one man he knew might understand, because he was the prime example of why the plans that had been scripted oh so long ago should never come to pass. The hunter was one of the greatest models of a human soul that the angel had ever come across, he was flooding with emotion and flaws and thoughts and everything the angel was coming to love in this world. He was so wonderfully imperfect that the angel felt the hunger for more, he strived to see more of the love and loyalty and he needed to feel more of the complex puzzle he was still working through. But it was hard to comprehend, it was like a baby being popped into a uniform and shoved onto a battle field, forced to fight a war he didn’t understand; he wasn’t sure which side he was supposed to be fighting for anymore and he wasn’t sure why he was fighting in the first place. 

“He slowly and surely adapted to the fresh, new world around him. He found friends in the two hunters and an old drunk. He felt the warmth and compassion they radiated and the overwhelming urge they shared to protect one another, it was strange and baffling to him, but he knew that if this was what every human felt everyday then he would spend his last breath on protecting it. He rebelled against heaven and his superiors, he fought against those he used to stand alongside with and he watched as, what he once called his home, started to crumble and decay with the toxicity that had developed in the heart of heaven. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore, he wasn’t given orders to follow on a daily basis and some days he forgot completely the reasoning behind what he was doing. 

“But his strength came in the form of glinting emerald iris’ and the strong hold of a desperate man, he was reminded of what he was fighting for through the soft curve of full lips and the warm, fond tones in the underlying rasp of a man’s humming words. He knew he was doing the right thing when he watched his hunter fight endlessly through the amount of obstacles that had been placed in his way and he grew to love the cracks and faults that tarnished the hunter’s heart along with the highlights and the rewarding aspects. There was nothing he wouldn’t sacrifice to ensure the hunter’s safety and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep him protected as much as he could. The hunter was the one who had showed the angel all the wonders of the human race and all the wrong doing within his own people; he would never stop being eternally grateful to him for revealing the truth.

“The angel worked with the team till the very end when he drew his last breath, he ventured on till the last battle when he struck what had seemed to be the last fight of his life. He didn’t waver or try to run and he didn’t leave the hunter’s side throughout it, the last thing the angel saw, before his fallen brother snapped his fingers and led him to his bloody death, was the face of the man he loved, the face that represented everything right and pure with the human race, and he knew he had done the right thing in betraying his old laws. 

“The angel was rewarded for his bravery and his Father granted one last miracle before resigning himself forever into solitude. He brought the angel back from the dead so he could be with the hunter once more. In return for the angel trusting his own morality against that which was commanded of him, he was compensated with the opportunity to embrace a new life with the love that had saved the world.”

The woman’s wistful words trailed off into the darkness of the room around her and her misty eyes began to return to normalcy and reality. 

“What happened next, mummy?” The small girl peered up through half lidded eyes, her words were unsure and doubting as if she already knew the outcome of the tale and was hoping for a different one. “Did they live happily ever after?”

The woman’s lips curved into a sad smile, “Not yet, Sweetie. But they will. Eventually.”


End file.
